The Internet in a Democratic Society

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Despite concerns over some online content, many tout the Internet as the most democratic social network ever conceived. (See also “Converging Media Case Study: Fragmentation, Polarization, and Convergence”.) But this same medium has also presented threats to our democracy—in the form of a division between people who can afford to use the Internet and those who can’t, and in the form of the Internet’s increasing commercialization.